Practitioners

This term we have been using methods in performing inspired by practitioners, such as Peter Brook and Yoshi Oida. Because of this, I want to delve in further and find out more about these two practitioners. 

Peter Brook

Peter Brook is an English theatre and film director who was born on 21st March 1925. He had won numerous awards (including multiple Tony and Emmy Awards) that he has been called "our greatest living theatre director".

Brook has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company beforehand therefore making me realise why Ben has decided to use him as inspiration this term as he has previous Shakespeare experience. His first production was also a Shakespearean one (Loves Labours Lost), which was performed at Stratford Theatre. 

Relating him to our production of Titus Andronicus, he previously directed Titus Andronicus with prominent actors, including Laurence Olivier, in 1955. When he directed this, he made the bold decision to remove many infamous phrases (such as, 'baked in that pie') - a technique similar to Ben's as he cut bits out to shorten the play therefore it was for a different reason. His production was described to be very 'experimental' as he used a range of very different materials (such as, pots and pencils). He decided to maximise the drama and minimise the gore, which, for me, is really hard to imagine as it is Shakespeare's bloodiest play therefore implying for a lot of gore to be in the play. Lavinia still lost her hands and tongue but it all happened offstage while the heads of Chiron and Demetrius where draped in baskets. This leads me to wonder if this was done effectively or if it held the play back.

A Time's critic said Brook had "created an atmosphere in which the horrors can take hold of us". I do not think our performance is going to be like his where at least three people pass out nightly but I think that by using similar methods - however most of our gore happens onstage - we will have a shocking impact on our audience.

Finally, I think we will be using Peter Brook's idea of 'Immediate Theatre' this term as it is about showing feelings and emotions to the audience so much that the actor is not the complete main focus but that they are a 'medium' for this to happen. Also, Brook believes a lot about showing 'raw emotion' to the audience - not holding back - therefore we, hopefully, will all be showing that on performance night to make our characters more believable. 

Yoshi Oida

Yoshi Oida is an English-speaking Japanese director, actor and writer. He learnt acting from OkuraSan, who is a famous teacher of kyogen and is one of the 'masters' of art. He was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1933. Oida has starred in film, television, and theatre productions, including The Pillow Book and Wasabi.

Later on in his life, he began working with Peter Brook. This is really interesting because our performance was also inspired by Brook meaning that they may both have a similar sort of style. Also, he joined the International Centre of Theatre Research, which was founded by Peter Brook, in 1970.

When researching Yoshi Oida, I came across the clip above. The clip really makes me think of Titus (mostly because of the blood) because he really takes his time with his movement so that the audience can register what is happening and also wondering what he is doing and why. There is purely physical movement that tells a story in itself. I don't understand the words that are spoken in some of his performances but, from his movements, I can completely understand what is going on. Also, there are very sharp and abstract moves near the end that suggest violence, which are so well done it is as if he just got his head cut off. This, mixed together with the sound effects, creates a really amazing and interesting performance to watch and understand.

From this, I can now see why we have taken inspiration from this practitioner as his work really links with our performance.